Gem Haul from John Betts - 8/11/2017

I spent this morning meeting with my favorite gem dealer, the indomitable John Betts, and picked up a handful of varied gems to try out some new pieces in an upcoming jewelry show in Brooklyn.

As always, the experience was insightful and I learned a lot about the different species of gems that I didn't know before. Here are some of the highlights of the haul.

More of those Black Diamonds from Zimbabwe

I got so much positive feedback on Dragonglass, that I needed to grab some more diamonds from this family. These dark grey diamonds have really complex etched crystallization patterns on some very flat surfaces, and are all generally sharply octahedral in shape.

I have some plans to make some more rings in the Dragonglass series, as well as potentially some pendants and earrings.

Gemmy Morganite from Brazil

This is a pretty large, very gemmy morganite, weighing in at around 11ct. It's internally flawless, and exhibits and extremely light pink hue against a white background.

This one will fluoresce under UV light, and it has a pretty convenient nearly flat face, so I'm thinking it'll make a great piece for somebody who is really into EDM and the rave scene (do people still say rave?), likely a bracelet, if I can figure out a way to do it.

A whole bunch of Rubellite Tourmaline bars

These bars hail from California and Brazil, and vary in size and color pretty dramatically. Because many of them pair pretty well with one another, they'll be good for earrings, but also will look nice alone in pendants and bracelets.

So much Pink Sapphire

I grabbed a bunch of these small pink sapphires for use as decoration on other pieces with larger primary stones. They're from Sri Lanka, and they are all around 2ct in weight. Pretty versatile and good to have a stock of these!

Fire Agate that will make you cry

This one's a pretty unique find, and I don't really have ideas for how to use it just yet. It's polished with a large gray agate attached, so it'll certainly be a challenge. Most likely, this will become a pretty fun pendant.

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